Heralding a new start with 2008, here's just books, books and Books - The best friend for a lifetime! You can even find the upcoming Book sections for Parents, Teachers and children here on my amazon space on kidsfreesouls.

Btw, this reminds me to refer to the Grimm's fairy tales and all those wonderful stories we ever read out to children. To my surprize, many of the English medium children aren't aware of stories like Hansel and Gretel, Snow white, Rumpelstiltskin and sleeping beauty! How sad! Childhood is getting more matured or is the innocence fading away....Teachers and parents need to spare those lovely moments for children and make a routine to read out fairy tales to them. Even the lovely games are just pass by with kids spending hours on computer games or play stations and television.

Let this be a resolution to spare a few moments for children - ours, theirs or any children and tell tale the stories - in hindi, gujarati, english or any language. We make a difference in their lives. Maybe, soon you can find story section coming up on kidsfreesouls! Till then, here's fairyland.

- ilaxi

Reminds me of the Pramod Batra's Book on Management Thoughts. It says, 'Knock the T off the Can't. His teacher while he was in the fifth grade, George Reeves was a 6 feet 2, weighing seventeen stone. He would shout, 'Silence' and write on the board, 'Can't'. And ask, 'And now what shall I do?'. All shouted together, 'Knock the T off the Can't.' He erased it leaving the word CAN.

That's a lesson - You can if you think you CAN. No one can stop us from our goals we want to reach and even Narendra Modi has proved this. So can we!

This one by Pramod Batra is one of the best picks. I recommend for all good readers. Enjoy!

- ilaxi

CM Narendra Modi has emerged to be one of the tallest leaders with a sure, confident win and it's all bouquets of roses. BJP is itself a Structural Political Party and into Collective performance. Nevertheless, 'The speed of the Boss is the speed of the team!' So, it was a sure win like Narendrabhai said, "I am the CM and will remain CM" - For Me, CM means a common man." BJP's won the match and Narendrabhai is the 'Man of the Match.' Merchants of Death remark of Sonia Gandhi will go down in History which has no effects on the poll results. No voter, especially Gujaratis are no fools and they know the CM, who is popular in the state, national and international level can just 'do it' - as he says, my Gujarat is my 'atma' and my India is 'my Parmatma' as he defines and knows his goals too well. It's been a historic day for Indian democracy. Also, a turning point for National politics and even a security alert to the CM.

Victory does not remove the blot or invalidate all that happened during the post-Godhra riots under his Chief Ministership. A second win can be justified but he sure needs to do Justice with all common man equal alike with no religious barriers. Future is all yours to behold!

As I congratulate the CM, it all the Great Expectations of the aam gujarati for a better living and peaceful Gujarat as it's been for the last many years.

Here's the site coming with updates of the CM and you can watch all the videos too. Esp. on Terrorism. Enjoy!

- ilaxi

Whoever wins, one thing is just amazing - Even kids in gujarat were spotted asking this Election day, 'Who are you going to vote?' Complete awareness of the voting rights and we found a many youth holding the finger of the aged and families together, voting yesterday! Jeetega bhai jeetega par chak de kaun karega - remains to be seen.

Well, all waged war of words and for the CM, it goes, 'It's all only words and words are all I have to take your heart away'. Especially, before the big day, he was spotted asking the crowd, 'will you do satnarayan puja to make modi win' and the crowd said, 'No', 'will you do hanuman chalisa to make modi win' and the crowd said, 'no', 'will you go walking to Ambaji to make modi win' and the crowd said, 'no', So then, will you go to vote and crowd shouts, 'Yes' - wow, this is called spreading Awareness of Right to Vote:-)

Change Attitude, change life. Who says, Gujarat people are'nt aware? Do media need to
show those empty chairs or held the CM responsible for price rise of oil and vegetables in gujarat? Or even, go to the extent of writing that women are not safe here...No ways, you can fool people some of the time, you cannot fool people all the time!

- ilaxi

Missed on posting? It happens when Elections are round the corner! Well, here's Deepal on the Sambhaav site with all the news, views and more on Political scenario and elections.

Btw, here's the updates on kidsfreesouls.com on Literature characters. Enjoy!

- ilaxi

Aids awareness is clear and present in Society. However, there has been alarming rise in Children's HIV/AIDS and women too. Exact figures are not known of cases from Gujarat but here's the un-updated link on Gujarat Govt. Health Initiative website. And here's another link, (Gujarat State Aids Control Society) I can't figure to get the reports!

It is revealed, Youth indulge in serious risk to catch the infection. It is alarming to know as per the Report of ActionAid and VSO, UK, nearly 40 pc of those contacting the HIV virus in India are women. Over a 21,000 children are affected this year compared to the previous figures.

Whatever, Gujarat is a land of Free and the most risky spot if you aren't Aware, Beware. Check this on Aids Day and light a Candle through a Kidsfreesouls link to support the cause wherever you stay.

- ilaxi

Awesome Diwali celebrations and still going on! That's our Apnu Amdabad - A heaven on earth, you can call! Endless festive celebrations and endless marriages - bethaks n sangeet sandhyas n all that goes upto after marriage ceremonies!

And the best part for me was, listening to the best humor of our CM Narendrabhai Modi at the GCCI Diwali meet at Rajpath club. I've met him and heard him a couple of times but this speech had too amazing shots - you got to be present to believe it coz the media is only going to show empty chairs in the newspapers - a rosy picture you can create any time 'As you like it'. A great sense of humor and bold allegations, ask any business person present there and all smiles goes the answer, 'Lage raho, Narendrabhai.'

Btw, what's your say? Is any one capable to be a CM in his place? Post a guess name and we can wait to c who wins the elections!

Not much to say further, here's goes the Hi and thanksgiving day at kidsfreesouls with the added Literature pages and lots more....Enjoy!

- ilaxi

Kidsfreesouls wishes all readers:

" A HAPPY DIWALI & PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR "

May your each day glow with Happiness and be bright with the colors of Joy!

And here's Sunita Williams with Kidsfreesouls Kids Reporters - Say Cheese! Enjoy!

- ilaxi

A recent case of a teacher punishing the child led to new concerns on Why spare the rod (should we spoil the child?) Well, I feel every child need the vital ingredients of self esteem:

Physical safety-freedom from physical harm.
Emotional security-no pressure and fear
Affiliation-sense of belonging and being wanted
Competence-capabilities
Purpose-feeling of some meaning in life and looking for direction

However, as a teacher I can say, Parents and teachers are more responsible as they fail to discipline the child. Are we not pampering children a lot? Rather, we are more 'wandering' ourselves and caught up in the wave of new gen living lifestyles! Should we spank or not...well, a concern but the recent announcing of the law calls in for the FIR - check in Kidsfreesouls on this.
- ilaxi

Are you ever let down by an arrogant Boss? Read more on kidsfreesouls.com and read the Book 'How to Manage Your Boss' - too quick easy steps indeed!

Btw, Here's 'Kuch Is Tarah' by Atif Aslam - Lemme know your choice:-)

- ilaxi

Concerned with Environment Issues? Read Earth Talk on kidsfreesouls.com - a column since more than five years related to Q & A on Environmental concerns. Send your Questions and you sure get the answers from Ed Doug Moss of E-magazine.

Btw, wanna Unite Bloggers worldwide? I missed on this earlier but still, you can Make a Difference! All you do is, Blog on Environment concerns on your Blog and 15th October is Blog Action Day - Unite to make a difference. Find more on my website Kidsfreesouls.com and also some concerns on my recent Ed Blog here.

Join Here:

Blog Action Day - 15th October. Join to make a Difference!

- ilaxi

Wondering...are you into Stamp Collecting Hobby? Any other? Why don't you add your hobby to my comment section here - Maybe, this can be useful to children exploring on the web! As kids, we often engage to a lot of Hobbies like stamp collecting, cars collection (ugh, models n dinky cars I mean), marbles, post-cards, first day covers and more n more...I collected stamps and marbles. Even had many pen-pals with whom we exchanged our stamps and shared our travel experiences n more.

Well, being a World Post Day, here's a month of Project for Kids that you can Home School them at your own pace. Even Learning and Teaching Computers. The monthwise Projects you can find on this page might be a help for many parents, teachers and even kids.

Many times, we want to bring about a difference in Education but it almost begins at home. Why do we have to rely on teachers when we ourselves can motivate our kids and color their world with rainbow of activities!

Fine more inputs on Kidsfreesouls - Enjoy!

- ilaxi

Schools, colleges kept students away from Gandhiji - reads a headline and so very true! Children in town were enjoying great holiday evening with snake charmers, magicians and bioscopes watching Harry Potter, Lord of the Ring, Spider man and Jurassic Park!!! Forgotten was Mahatma Gandhi in his own land when UN declared his Birthday as International Non Violence Day!

Well, yeh hai amdabad, yeh mera amdabad! All the Educational Institutes who're busy with Social Organizations and activities could have at least remembered to intitiate Gandhian values through competitions and quiz!

Anyways, here's Kidsfreesouls.com - now with a redesign and still with some teething problems. Any suggestions and do lemme know. Enjoy!

- ilaxi

No wonder, a Health Policy is definitely required for the teenagers and young bubbling IT Guys who stress out blinking in front of the computers whole day long! The IT and BPO Life is taking a toll with the tough schedule causing sleepless days n nights, mental stress, depression and even psychiatric problems apart from many other real health and social hazars. As such, the Union Health and IT Minister is setting to form a special Health Policy for the BPO sector and a conference is supposed to be held in Bangalore for the IT sector reps.

Hmm...I been redesigning Kidsfreesouls.com and sure is a long way to go - However, slow but steady ever win the race! If not, reach somewhere half the way;-) As I experience, I know, It sure is a good idea for a Health Policy for IT buffs cos working 24x7 calls to check on health. My Book Guardian of Angels has some concerns on kids using computers 'Is computing safe for kids?' - I wonder if the parents and educationists understand what it means to be 3-5 hours being on social networking sites! Afterall, schools here do not have the online assignments nor are the teachers savvy - Are they???

- ilaxi patel

There, it's Sunita Williams all the way here and in the minds of Children. A parent told me that her child was going to Interview Sunita Williams and she's gonna ask her how she got her inspirations. A question I quipped in the class and they all spoke her name with a bang and spelt the word 'Astronaut' correctly while they find mistakes in spellings of many other words. As these children here are so inspired by Sunita Williams, I wonder if Suni too need to get inspired by these kids here.

The reason is, Sunita Williams clarified and regretted, she cannot speak Gujarati or Hindi inspite of her roots here. Whereas the kids over here are Jack of all Trades - they learn (rathar schools and parents too teach them) Gujarati, Hindi, English and even go for Spanish, French, etc. learning.

And well, our Gujarat University here seems to lack knowing proper Gujarati! There seems to be lot of mistakes in a Certificate given to Suni - ugh, oh, now I guess I need not fear of making those rasvai-dirghai and all those spelling blunders I make while I write the Shabd Preet - Relax me, GU makes mistakes, so I am apt to;-)

- ilaxi

Guardian of Angels has been in news with the POD Technology - Read more on this on Guardian of Angels-Amazon.com Syndicated Blog here. The Kidsfreesouls Editor Blog will now be found here with all the links to Blogger Posts from main website kidsfreesouls.com - Newspaper for kids with resources for parents and teachers.

Check on the Feedburner changes and those using the ftp bloggers have more means and advantage to shift over to Blogger tools!

Enjoy!

- ilaxi

Got a very nice Blog and think you should be Awarded? Here's your chance at Bloggers choice Awards to get your Blog roll in for nomination or just vote a good blog in various categories. The voting for Blogger's Choice Awards 2007 will end at 11:55pm on October 19. Winners in each respective category will be recognized at a one-of-a-kind awards ceremony on November 10, 2007, at PostieCon in Las Vegas, NV.

You can brag badges for your site like this one below (Kidsfreesouls.com) :



Here are 2006 Blog Award Winners to inspire you - some way or the other.

- ilaxi

Reviews of my Book, 'Guardian of Angels: A Practical Guide to Joyful Parenting' are placed on my Book Review Page on Kidsfreesouls. The Book was also covered in Divya Bhaskar with a different note with concerns on the future of POD Book Publishing and emerging trends on opportunities to be an Author. Here's my Press coverages page.



However, the one I really missed out was a Review by Ravindra Thakore in Jansatta-Loksatta, Ahmedabad and Baroda Edition. I came to know of this review when I got the copy of this edition after a month! Here is a brief review on Shabd-Preet.

Btw, Happy Janmashtmi! Here's the Krishna Pages on Kidsfreesouls and the print article on Krishna too. The same is yet not in unicode fonts, so you need to check on this font downlad:-( Anyways, Enjoy!

- ilaxi

Fashion in classrooms? It's an amazing change in Apnu Gujarat with Schools calling for Fashion Designers from Bombay and setting up Children's Unique School Uniform Wardrobe. Get to read on this on Kidsfreesouls Here.

Btw, have your burnt your feeds with Feedburner? Google earlier acquired Feedburner and now it's Headline Animator is turning to a Marketing Tool. Here's more to know on how you can take the best advantage to be popular on the web and reach to millions with your contents. Enjoy!

- ilaxi

The television and news reflect the story of Adnan and Orkut. It was in 2006 when Rupert Murdoch swooped in to buy MySpace, paying $580 million, Wall Street suddenly got the idea to line up for social networking. Face Book and Orkut has headed to get popular and I find almost all teenagers in town has made an avatar and a profile on such Social Networking sites including Flixter. They join becoz their friends have joined. I even see thousands of scraps and thousands of friends - Is that possible? I wonder. I can't understand how one can afford to waste three to four hours writing scraps! That to, to people you don't know! The 'He' may be 'She' and vice versa or 18 maybe 81 - who knows! Long way left outs are ICQs and Messenger chats. Every parent need to be alert for what purpose the kids are using the web and every school and teachers need to be careful while they make school sites and blogs with student comments - the search reveals the names and email ids!

Yeah, I do have my profiles here - At face book, it's the market place, at Orkut, there's all ex-students of Swagat, at My Space, the musicians who share staff notes and songs since I am a keyboard Player and at Flixter, Hi Fi, elsewhere, it's most about promoting websites.

Whatever, the New Mantra of Online Advertising is : "Advertise on social networking sites." 28 million Indians and the age group is 18-25 - a target audience with buying power. Content-specific advertisements have become a rage on networking sites like Orkut, Blogger, Linked In,TechTribe, Ryze, Flickr, MSN Live Spaces, Fropper and Facebook, which the advertisers are seeking to target as per the lifestyles of the younger generation. Here's Tech Crunch's Top Ten Social Networking websites-2006. And Here's the 2007 Top Social Networking sites Report. You may find the Internet Safety tips and links on Kidsfreesouls.com - I guess, why the kids or teens - Even women and all of us need to follow the codes of conduct on web and Beware - Take care.

- ilaxi